Snow Berry
by Cykotyks
Summary: Sometimes the stupidest mistakes we make bring us the best thing that's ever happened to us [AU] [IchiShiro – otherwise known as Shirosaki, Hichigo, Ogihci, etc...]
1. Freaky Diseased Kid

**Summary**: Sometimes the stupidest mistakes we make bring us the best thing that's ever happened to us.  
**Disclaimer**: Everything not mine belongs to its respective owner, but everything else not previously claimed is mine.  
**Rating**: T (for now)  
**Warnings**: Foul Language, Violence, "Mature Themes"  
**Notes**: I'm doing four new things here – 1, it's totally and completely AU (they're not even in Japan); 2, it's in first person; 3, it's in present tense (well, not this prologue, really, but the rest is); and 4, it's **IchiShiro**.  
**Dedication**: To my brother, who is the only reason I've ever been to New York in the first place, and the only reason I've ever been to Brooklyn (at night) at all. That being said, please keep in mind that my knowledge of the streets of NY and whatnot is limited, and since I'm a kid from the sleepy suburbs of SoCal, I'm bound to get some things wrong. But whatever - it's my fic, dammit! xD

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Snow Berry  
–1–  
Freaky Diseased Kid

* * *

It was a stupid stupid stupid thing to do. Even _he_ said it was stupid. _Everybody_ said it was stupid. _I_ know it was stupid.

But I still did it.

I'm a fifteen-year-old "homeless orphan" on the streets of Brooklyn, New York. Well, not always, but that's where I dug myself into the shittiest shit-hole that was ever dug in the history of shit-hole diggers.

Hope I made myself clear that this was a lot of shit.

Anywho, I was basically minding my own business as I wandered back to my makeshift "home" when I heard this kid yell "Get the fuck away from me!" from the alley. Now, I'm a smart kid – I _know_ that I should just keep walking if I want to live, but this kid's voice… I'd heard that kind of panic and fear before – usually out of women, though. They scream like that when they're gonna get raped. This kid, though, he sounded kind of like me (and I'm not being vain – he really sounded like me) and I don't know if it was the hunger or whatever, but for some reason, I thought it really _was_ me that was about to get raped.

And I don't know about you, but I really didn't want me getting raped.

So I made the stupidest move I'd ever made in my whole entire fifteen years of existence.

I stopped in front of that alley, and I yelled, "Leave 'im alone!"

The two greasy thugs picking on this kid looked up at me, looking real pissed. The one not holding the kid against the wall moved out of the way so I could see their almost-victim. This kid – I swear, he was as white as a ghost. I mean literally. His skin was real pale and his hair was this silvery-white color. Made him even paler looking that he was wearing a black shirt and faded black jeans, plus his fingernails were painted black. His eyes, though, were real freaky. The color part was a gold-brown (real pretty color, if you ask me), but where the eye was supposed to be white, it was pitch black.

So, Freaky Diseased Kid aside, these two thugs grinned real creepy-like at me and Thug Not Holding Freaky Diseased Kid started towards me. I probably whimpered (or looked like I wanted to) because this guy started laughing all slow.

"You stupid?! Get the hell out of here!" Freaky Diseased Kid yelled at me. Then I made the _second_ stupidest move I'd ever made.

I yelled, "Bite me!" and Survival Mode kicked into high gear. I'm not a cocky brat for nothing – street fighting's my best feature. So I kick Thug One's ass to the ground, then kick Thug Two's ass, then I grab Freaky Kid by the arm and haul all ass out of there (hey – I wasn't going home empty-handed!).

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Love it? Hate it? Please review!

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(485)**  
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	2. Snow White and the Strawberry

**Disclaimer**: No ownage except of the things not already owned.  
**Warning**: Foul Language  
**Notes**: Accents and dialects are a bitch to write when I'm not familiar with them...

* * *

Snow Berry  
–2–  
Snow White and the Strawberry

* * *

About two blocks after, Freaky Kid speaks up. "I can walk on my own, you know," he snaps. 

"Sorry," I say, letting him go. "Who were those guys?" I know it's none of my damn business to ask, and the kid gives me this look saying the same thing.

"Doesn't matter. Who're you?"

"Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Masshiro Shirosaki. Just…call me Shiro."

I have to laugh – our last names were nearly identical. And now that I look, aside from Shiro being all black and white, and me being all normal-colored, we almost look the same, too. Okay, we look almost _exactly_ the same.

"It's not that funny," Shiro growls. "It's a stupid name…"

"What is?"

"Masshiro."

"I think it's cool."

"It means 'snow white' in Japanese."

I laugh again. "So? My name means 'strawberry' in Japanese."

Shiro smirks. "Okay, yeah, yours is dumber."

I'm about to shove him when all the sudden he collapses. I catch him before he gets a make-out session with the cement. "H-hey, Shiro? You okay?" I panic a bit. Did Thug One and Thug Two do something to him? Is he dead?! I call myself stupid when I realize the kid's breathing still. He probably just passed out from hunger or something. Lord knows I feel like doing the same.

I look around and realize that I can't just leave the kid lying here, but it's still another three long blocks to the cranny I'm currently calling home. I sigh and set him down, propped up against the building wall. Not many people are out – it's nighttime in Brooklyn, after all. Nobody but the homeless and the suicidal wanders these parts at this time of day. I spot a lady, though, who looks nice enough. I know (from painful experience) that all women carry a can of pepper spray with them, so I put on my most innocent, helpless-looking face and wave her down. "Ah, ma'am?" I call. She stops and looks at me – a good start. I don't approach her – no need to lose my vision for the night. "Ma'am, could you help me out here? My brother's passed out an' I'd like to get 'im some water or somethin' but I can't just leave 'im here and I ain't got any money for a bottle…" I don't have a New York accent (I realize that Shiro doesn't, either). She must've noticed.

"You boys ain't from 'round here, are ya?" she says in this sassy tone.

"Ah, no, ma'am, not e'zactly," I say shyly.

"Well here," she says, handing me a five-dollar bill, "git your 'brother' some water and git on home." After she says that, she walks off again.

I kind of sneer at her back – I'm sure it's pretty damn obvious that neither of us have a "home" to go to, really. Well, we don't have a _house_, and Shiro's the only one who doesn't have a home. As far as I know.

Oh well. I sigh and stuff the bill in my one good pocket before I kneel down in front of Shiro. I slap his cheeks a bit. "Come on, wake up. I ain't keen on draggin' your ass to the liquor store." He doesn't respond and I frown. This kid sleeps like a log! "Hey! Snow White! Snap out of it!" I say loudly. That still doesn't work, so I grab him by the shoulders and shake him.

"Ow! Cut it out!" Shiro snaps.

I stop and grin. "Finally."

"Huh?" He looks around. "What happened?"

"You passed out and I made five bucks because you're a pathetic idiot," I say, pulling the bill from my pocket and waving it in front of his face.

"Then half of it's mine," he retorts.

I smirk, amused. "Actually, whatever food this buys us gets split – not the money itself. Two-fifty won't get you much more than a lollipop."

Shiro sighs and tries to get up. I stand and hold out my hand and he takes it and I pull him to his feet. "Thanks," he grumbles, letting go of my hand.

"You okay enough to walk across the street?"

"I think so."

We get across the still-somewhat-busy street to the crappy liquor store on the other side. The cashier gives us this grumpy look when we enter. We must make quite a sight – a dirty street rat in tattered clothes and an albino kid with freaky black-and-gold eyes. It doesn't really matter, though. The cashier acts like he's going back to his magazine but I know he's keeping an eye on us. They always watch all the teenagers – especially the boys. Shoplifters. I don't usually attempt it this late since, if at all, though.

I follow Shiro into the food aisle and he finds the little tag saying "2 for $2" over the muffins. He looks at me and asks, "This good?"

"There any chocolate chip ones?"

Shiro nods and grabs two of them before he sticks his tongue – his _neon blue_ tongue – out at me. I manage to not freak out. I mean, it's not really all that freaky compared to the rest of him. It kind of fits, actually. And besides, there are worse things. "Three bucks left," he says. "Two more, or something to drink?"

I look around and find a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos for ninety-nine cents. I hand it to Shiro who kind of lights up when he sees them. I guess he likes spicy things, too. That leaves us two dollars, so I go to the back where the drinks are and find the water. I grab the bigger bottle marked "$1.50" and hold it up so the cashier can see me and call, "How much is this with tax and shit?"

The cashier kind of glares at me. "Dollar eighty," he says. I can tell he's irritated. Too bad. I'm in a good mood.

"Food's not taxed, right?"

"Right" he grunts.

Shiro follows me to the guy and sets everything down. The guy punches the keypad and "$4.80" pops up on the display. I hand him the five and he gives me my twenty cents back. "Need a bag?" he says robotically.

"Nah, we got it," I say, grabbing the bottle and a muffin while Shiro grabs the other and the Cheetos. We're out of there pretty quick.

We settle ourselves against the wall of the building next to the store and I hand Shiro the water bottle. "Drink some of this before you pass out again."

Shiro takes it without complaining and screws off the sport-top cap before he downs maybe a third of the bottle, screws the cap back on, and hands it back to me. "Thanks."

I take it back and set it down. "You don't have anything contagious, right?"

He looks at me kinda of confused before he laughs. "Oh, my tongue. No, that's just me."

"That's good. I don't think I'd be too attractive with a blue tongue. It works for you, though."

"It does?" He laughs again. "I was always told 'you can't go out in public like that, people will think you're a demon or a diseased freak and they'll kill you' or something like that."

I'm working on freeing the muffin from the wrapper as he says this. "Who told you that? I mean, at first I kinda labeled you the Freaky Diseased Kid, but you see what I did." After I say this, I free the muffin and bite into it – it's the first food I've eaten in a day or two.

Shiro manages to laugh. "You're still an idiot for doing that, you know," he says.

"Yeah, I know."

"I would've been fine."

"Nobody screams 'get the fuck away from me' when they're gonna be fine," I point out.

"That was reflexive – they smelled."

"And I don't?"

Shiro shakes his head. "Not as bad as they did."

"So if you were told not to go out in public, what were you doing out here?"

"Running away," he replies as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Lemme guess, from the asshole who said you were a diseased freak?"

"_You_ called me a diseased freak."

"No, I called you a Freaky Diseased Kid."

"And there's a difference?"

"Yep. So was I right?"

"Yeah. I'm not diseased, though. I'm genetically altered. Or I was, I guess. I was born like this. I've been kept in a lab and had tests ran on me since then. For the past…two…three years, I've been trying to break out and stay out. I was out for two days before now."

"So greasy guys like that will come after you again?"

"No – those were just paranoid freaks. The people who come and get me are quicker than that."

"They'll report you missing if they can't find you."

Shiro shakes his head. "I don't think so. I don't think they can risk me getting into police hands – I'll just tell them what they've been doing to me and they'll get in trouble."

"So why don't you just go to the police now?"

He shrugs. I have a feeling I know what the answer is, but if the kid's anything like me, he's not going to admit that he really is afraid of getting caught and sent back there.

"Whatever," I say, saving him from answering. I go back to my muffin and see out of the corner of my eye that he starts working on his, too.

We finish the muffins off pretty quick and start walking again, sharing the Cheetos on our way.

"Where do you live?" Shiro asks.

"Just down here a ways," I say, nodding my head down the street. "It's a piece'a crap, but it's a roof and a blanket." I'm not kidding – that's really all it is. The rundown and previously abandoned building was converted into a sort of homeless shelter. Whatever furniture and shit that's in there is all donated, picked up off the street, or from the Salvation Army. I've got a small corner all to myself, complete with a blanket in decent condition. Feeling kind of stupid, I realize that the space is barely even big enough for me, and the rest of the floor's always crowded. "Uh, you don't mind bein' a little squished for the night, do ya?"

Shiro shrugs. "I guess not. Why?"

"Well, there's a lot of other people in this place and there isn't always a whole lot of room…"

"I'll live. As long as it doesn't look like a hospital room, I'm pretty much okay with anything."

"Where've you been sleeping since you got out?"

"I haven't."

"What?!"

"I don't really need to sleep a whole lot, but I can. I'm not an insomniac or anything."

"You get freakier and freakier by the minute…"

"Then why're you being so nice?"

"Huh?"

"If I'm so freaky, why're you helping me out?"

I shrug. I really don't know why I'm helping him. "'Cause you're following me," I say, even though it's not the real answer.

"You saved me – I can't just run off like some ungrateful brat."

"So I guess as long as you're following me, I'll keep helping you, and you'll keep following me, right? Sounds like a vicious cycle to me."

He chuckles and I smile. The rest of the walk is in silence.

* * *

When we get to the building, I can already tell it's going to be a bad night. There are some people sleeping on the stoop. I pick my around them as I lead Shiro through the door. 

"Wait here," I say before making my way to my spot. Or what was my spot – it's now occupied by some fat chick. I sigh and free _my_ blanket from her beefy hands. She wakes up.

"Wha'chu think yor doin', brat?" she spits at me.

"You stole my spot, bitch," I snap, giving my blanket another tug.

"I di'n't see yor name ahn it," she says with more spit flying. It's gross.

"You wouldn't be able to read it even if you did see it," I growl. "Look, take the fucking spot – I've got better places to be – just give me my damn blanket."

"I dun't see yor name ahn this, either."

I give up trying to reason with her, so I kick her arm and she lets go. I get away from her as quick as I can and make my way back to Shiro, blanket clutched tightly under my arm.

"What's wrong?" Shiro asks.

"Nothin'," I lie, leading him out of there. "It's not really a huge problem – we can find somewhere else for the night."

Shiro makes a noise. I look at him and see he's trying not to shiver. I guess it's not so bad for him during the day and the early part of the night – it's warmer. But the fall nights aren't all that pleasant, and I imagine with his pale skin that he doesn't retain too much body warmth. I drape the blanket over his shoulders. He looks at me but I'm not looking at him anymore. He doesn't say anything – I guess he understands.

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I warn you right now – Shiro is totally OOC e.e; There's a reason for it, but it's not revealed until a few more chapters, and I'm not entirely sure it's going to get better... So I'm warning you now so you don't get mad at me later, okay?

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(2196) (2681) 


	3. Cops and Doctors?

**Disclaimer**: Now ownage except of the things not already owned  
**Warning**: Mild Language  
**Notes**: I'm going to try and use as many Bleach characters as I can, even if it's just in name. So there may be some OOCness. Also, please keep in mind that I'm attempting to write this from the view-point of a fifteen-year-old street rat, so don't expect the writing to be particularly elegant XD (okay, my normal writing isn't that elegant, but this is a step below that...I think XD)

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Snow Berry  
–3–  
Cops and...Doctors?

* * *

We walk in silence for quite a while. It's near midnight when we get to the hospital. 

"What're we here for?" Shiro asks. I can't tell if he's scared or pissed. Or both.

I look at him and pull the blanket over his head. "Keep your head down unless you wanna take the chance of getting caught."

He nods and adjusts the blanket to hid his hair and keep his face in the shadows. When I start walking, he takes my hand. "I can't see where I'm going," he tries to explain.

I don't question it and lead him into the hospital. The receptionist looks up – it's Lucy Something-Or-Other. She's pretty nice.

"You're out late tonight, Ichigo," she greets with a small wave. "Would you like me to call Doctor Yamada?"

"Yes, ma'am," I say.

She picks up the phone and punches in a few keys. "Doctor Yamada, Ichigo Kurosaki is here." A pause. "Alright, I'll tell him." She sets the phone back in the cradle and turns back to me. "He said he'd be down in a few minutes. Who's your friend?"

"Ah," I scramble for a lie, "his name's Matt," I say. "He was helping me collect bottles earlier," I add.

Lucy smiles at "Matt." "Well, it's nice to meet you, Matt!"

"We'll just wait over here," I say, tugging "Matt" along to the far end of the waiting room.

"Who's Doctor Yamada?" Shiro asks, keeping his voice down even though Lucy wouldn't be able to hear him anyway.

"He's a friend," I say. "He's the only person who ever knows where Ganju is at any given time. I can't ask to stay at Yamada's house because he never asks for anything so I feel bad. But Ganju lives with his nutty sister that always makes me work, so it's okay if we stay with them for the night."

"And they won't ask questions?"

I shake my head. "Kaien – Ganju's older brother – is a cop, but he's a good guy. If there's been a report for you, he'll tell us, and if we just tell him what's happening, he'll help us out."

"You promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

He smirks at me from under the blanket.

"Hey Ichigo," I hear Yamada call a few seconds later. I wave and he comes over. "What's up?"

"Hey, can you give us Ganju's address? The old building's all filled up and this kid's gonna freeze his butt off if we stay outside."

Yamada looks down at Shiro's exposed hand and Shiro quickly hides it under the blanket again. "Hm? What's your name?" he asks, kneeling down so he's shorter than us. He's short to begin with, but he works with kids a lot and does that to make them feel more comfortable. "I'm not going to hurt you. You're an albino, right?"

Shiro lifts his head up a bit and I guess Yamada's able to see his eyes because _his_ eyes go a bit wide, then he frowns and stands up. "Alright, I'm not going to ask questions," he says pointedly before going over to the receptionist.

I get up and follow him. "What was that about?" I ask.

"Nothing – it's a stupid superstitious phenomenon," he says as he scribbles down an address. He pauses for a moment before scribbling something else down. "I'm sure it's nothing, Ichigo, but if you want to know, ask Kaien to look this up on Wikipedia for you. His eyes aren't like the reports, though, so don't take it seriously," he adds with a chuckle as he circles the second thing he wrote. "It's just ironic that I just heard about it yesterday and then this pops up," he explains, handing the note to me. "Is that it?"

I nod and stuff the note in the pocket with my twenty cents.

"Alright," he says, messing up my hair. "Take care, and ask Ganju or one of them if they have spare sunglasses for your friend."

"Will do," I say, waving for Shiro to follow. He does and we're out of there.

I expect Shiro to say something, but he doesn't. He just takes the blanket off his head and watches his feet.

"He didn't mean to act like that," I say, trying to break the silence.

"I'm used to it," Shiro says. His voice is cold and for some reason, it hurts me. I don't want to pity him, but I really feel bad for the kid.

I hesitate, not sure if I want to say what I want to say. But I'm prone to stupidity. "I like your eyes," I say, though it's not real loud.

"Huh?"

"The gold – it's pretty. I like it."

He half-snorts, half-chuckles. "It's…abnormal."

"So? Abnormal can be pretty."

He rolls his eyes. "You really are an idiot."

"How does that make me an idiot?"

"It just does," he says, acting like that just explains everything.

I shove him. "You're the idiot, idiot."

He stumbles a bit and drops the blanket. The next thing I know, he's tackled me to the ground and his hands are around my neck and I'm choking.

"Sh—Shiro…!" I try to gasp out, trying to pry his hands away from my neck, but for a skinny kid, he's got strength. My vision starts fading and I'm coughing but he doesn't let up until there's a gunshot nearby. His entire body gives out and he lands on top of me. I take deep breaths, regaining my senses before I try to sit up.

"You alright there, Ichigo?"

I turn my head – Kaien's walking toward us, putting his gun away. "Did you…shoot him?" I ask.

"No – I fired a blank," he says. "You know this guy?" he asks, pulling Shiro off of me.

I nod and get to my feet. "Can we get to your house? I'll explain on the way – he'll freeze if he's out here much longer."

"Whatever you say, kid," he says, gathering Shiro up in his arms bridal-style. I grab the blanket and put it over Shiro.

"I don't think he's intentionally dangerous," I say as we start walking. "He said he'd had tests run on him, so I guess he's just not all that stable."

"Ah, Ichigo? Don't you think you should be worried about where this kid came from?"

"Probably, but I saved him from these two greasy thugs – I can't really just ditch him after that. And he said he couldn't just ditch me or he'd be an ungrateful brat."

"Did he give you a name?"

I look at them. I figure if Shiro's been reported missing, Kaien would've been notified and would've spotted Shiro pretty quick. "Masshiro Shirosaki – he asks to be called Shiro, though."

"Shirosaki? That's pretty close to your name."

"Weird, huh? He's also a lot like me – just wait 'til he wakes up. His voice sounds like mine – I mean, it's a little different, but pretty similar. And he looks like me. Oh – and don't freak out over his eyes or his tongue, okay? Hana already kinda did that and he didn't take it too well." I remember the paper and dig it out. "You know what this is?" I ask, pointing to the words "black eyed kids" that Doctor Yamada circled.

Kaien's eyebrow goes up. "Is that what this kid is?"

"Hana said he was different – his eyes are gold on the color part—"

"The iris," Kaien explains. He's always trying to teach me words.

"Yeah, that. But where it's supposed to be white—"

"The sclera."

"Yeah, yeah – it's black."

"Well, the black eyed kids have all black eyes – like coal, according to the sightings. But really, they're almost about as believable as UFOs."

"I wouldn't say they're like coal," I say. "They're shiny – like the black arrowhead rocks."

"Obsidian?"

"Yeah, that. Anyway, Hana said you should look it up on Wikipedia for me."

"I will – you'd probably get a kick out of it."

"And could you do us one more favor?"

"Sure."

"If he's reported missing, could you tell us? It'll be from the lab that's been doin' tests on him. He really doesn't wanna go back."

Kaien looks at me and sighs. "I'll keep the radio on for the night and wake you up if I hear anything. You'll have to keep the lookout for the day, though. I can't knowingly be housing him if I know he's missing, so you'll have to get out as soon as you can."

"Yeah, I know," I say. "Just give us a grace period or somethin' – then you can come after us all you want."

"Sure thing. Hey, grab the key card, I can't get it holding this kid," he says, going up the stairs to an apartment building.

I slip his wallet from his back pocket and take the card out, then I swipe it through the sensor and hold open the door for him. We get into the elevator.

"Third floor," he says and I press the button. We go up and stop on the third floor. Kaien gets out first and I follow him until he stops in front of door 362. I'm about to use the card again but Kaien just kicks the door a few times.

"Cut it out, lame-ass!" a woman yells before opening the door. It's Kuukaku, looking as grumpy as ever. Her face softens when she sees Kaien's carrying somebody.

"Who'd you shoot this time?" she asks, moving out of the way.

"I didn't shoot him – he fainted," Kaien says, going inside. I follow.

"Heyo, Kuukau," I say with a grin.

She swipes at me but I dodge. "Brat," she says.

"Can you turn on the radio, sis?" Kaien says as he's setting Shiro down on the futon.

"Please don't tell me we're housing a fugitive," she snaps, turning on the old radio anyway.

Kaien chuckles. "Nah – the albino kid might be reported missing, though."

Kuukaku glares at me a bit. "What is with you and trouble?"

"Trouble's my secret lover," I say, joking.

"It's not so secret, ya little fruitcake," she retorts.

I laugh and sit down on the futon next to Shiro. "We'll be out of here by the afternoon, okay? Report or not."

"Sooner if there _is_ a report," Kaien reminds me.

"Yeah, I know."

"Get some sleep, Ichigo. You, too, sis."

Kuukaku smiles – she only smiles to Kaien, but she's real pretty when she does – and she disappears into her room.

Kaien gets up and digs up some blankets for Shiro and me before he goes back to the radio.

I lay out the blankets and crawl under them. I lay down on my side with my back to Shiro, and I'm only a few inches away from him. I figure it's the closest I can get without making it awkward, but close enough for my body warmth to help him out a bit.

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OMFG I used Kaien XD I became a Kaien fan after chapter 262, it's just too bad that...yeah. Don't wanna give any spoilers. But he's fun to write n.n I wish I could use him more often like this. He and Ichigo really are alike - they've both got a "big brother" nature. Ichigo's just uptight and serious more often than Kaien is n.n Anywho! Enough of my ramblings - go review so I can feel special XD

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(1834) (4515) 


	4. Black Eyed Kid

**Disclaimer**: No ownage except of the things not already owned  
**Warning**: Showers XD  
**Note #1**: Okay - it is freaking HARD to write from Shiro's POV XD You have to realize that he's been in a lab all his life and he only knows a few real human interactions and things like that, so it's kinda hard to designate what he knows and what he doesn't know. But I attempted. A for Effort, right?  
**Note #2**: If you go to Wikipedia and look up "black eyed children," you will find that article (as some of you probably already did). I copied that and changed one date. Why? Well, you'll just have to wait and find out.  
**Note #3**: Thank you Chinksta and Phoenix Reviver for pointing out my screw-up with the dates n.n;; It's supposed to be around October of '07 or so, so the boys are fifteen.

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Snow Berry  
–4–  
Black Eyed Kid

* * *

The first time I wake up, I'm curled up against Ichigo's side and he's got his arm around me. It's the only thing familiar that registers – I have no idea where we are. Ganju's house, probably, since that's where we were headed when I passed out. I only remember being shoved – it wasn't a hard shove or anything – but there's a blur and then there's a gunshot and I remember seeing my hands around Ichigo's neck before I passed out. 

I close my eyes again. My aggressive outbursts are pretty well documented. Mayuri made sure he knew every single thing that set them off. I frown and bury myself closer to Ichigo. Thinking about that crazy bastard just makes me want to kill something. Ichigo's warmth seems to counteract that urge though, like it did when he pulled me from those thugs. That's good. I really don't want to snap on him again. I figure I should at least explain it to him, if not apologize, but then I think he must not be too mad at me if he made the effort to carry me the rest of the way to Ganju's house and then share a bed with me.

I smile and let myself go back to sleep.

* * *

When I wake up again, Ichigo's gone and I smell something I think is food. I yawn quietly and push myself up so I'm sitting. Ichigo's sitting in front of a computer with bulky headphones around his neck that are connected to an old radio. 

He looks over his shoulder at me and smiles. "Morning, sleepy-head," he says.

"What're you doing?" I ask. Computers aren't necessarily bringers of good omens for me.

"Come here and look at this," he replies, turning back to the screen.

I get up and go over to stand next to him. "What is it?"

"Hana – Doctor Yamada said I should look this up if I wanted to know why he was kinda thrown off guard by your eyes," he explains, scrolling to the top.

"Black Eyed Kids?" I read from the header.

"Just read it," he says. I can tell he's amused, so I start reading.

**_Black Eyed Kids_** _(sometimes called **Black Eyed Children**_ _or **BEK**) are said to be children with eyes that are solid black, with no differentiation between sclera, pupil or iris. Those who report encounters with them often feel that the children were somehow supernatural and very dangerous. The first known sighting was recounted in a 2004 usenet posting by journalist Brian Bethel._

"What the…" I frown.

"Keep reading," is all Ichigo says.

**_Origin_** _In his initial post, Brian Bethel reported of a meeting with two unusually confident and eloquent children who attempted to talk him into giving them a ride in his car. Bethel said in his post that he nearly opened the door to admit the children, even though he found them vaguely unsettling, until he realized that their eyes were completely black, with no iris or sclera. He reports that, as soon as he realized this, the children became angry and insistent, and he drove away quickly. His posting implies that the children may have been using some form of low-level mind control to induce him to open the car door._

"Mind control? What the hell?" I have to laugh – this Brian guy sounds like a paranoid nut.

_**Other Reports **Since Bethel's original post, there have been other reports of similar experiences in other parts of the country. These accounts are similar to Bethel's in that they generally involve the children's request that the person let them inside their car or house, frequently using an excuse such as "I need to get home to my mother" or something that implies the child is in need of assistance._

**_Characteristics_** _Experiences involving the Black Eyed Children generally do not explain the cause of the children's eye color (not to be confused with Aniridia which is the lack of iris; Black Eyed Children have no _sclera _or white either) or the origins of the children themselves. Some imply they could be ghosts or demons, specifically vampires: the encounters frequently emphasize that the children must be _admitted _or _invited _into the house or car in question, and in this way are reminiscent of some vampire legends._

"So Yamada thought I was one of these kids?" I finally ask. I'm a little happy that I'm not the only person with abnormal eyes, but to have that be connected to something like this…

"I guess, but your eyes are different."

"And if I had some form of mind control, I'd've used it by now," I say, snorting.

Ichigo chuckles. "This guy – Brian – he says that if you let these kids in, you'll die."

"Tch. I _wish_ I was a Black Eyed Kid, then."

"Yeah, but even if you're not, there are still some people who're gonna freak," Ichigo says as he takes the headphones off from around his neck and gets up. "Kaien left his spare sunglasses for you so you can hide your eyes during the day." He grabs the sunglasses off of the table near the door and hands them to me. They're silver metal with blue reflective lenses. "Try 'em on," he says.

I slip them on only to take them off again and adjust the nose things. I slip them on again and they fit. "They're really dark," I say.

"That's okay – they hide your eyes. Kaien also said that because your irises are light-colored, you'd probably be more sensitive to the sun anyway."

I move the sunglasses to sit on my forehead. "So what's with the radio?"

"Oh – I'm trying to see if they've reported you missing yet. When that happens, we gotta scram 'cause Kaien's a cop and he can't be willingly housing you. He's asleep right now – he stayed up all night scanning the radio."

"Come an' eat, you two!" a woman calls from the kitchen.

Ichigo smirks and I follow him around the corner. The woman's wearing a halter-top that's just barely covering her chest and some turban-like thing on her head. Her right arm is just a stump, though she seems to get along fine without it.

"Shiro, this is Kuukaku Shiba, Kuukaku, Masshiro Shirosaki," Ichigo says

"Just Shiro," I say.

"Kuukaku owns the Shiba Fireworks Company," Ichigo says.

"Yep!" Kuukaku exclaims proudly. "Prettiest fireworks you'll ever see this side of the Mississippi."

I know what fireworks are – I learned how to read out of Mayuri's textbooks and one of them included a chapter on the chemical reactions in fireworks. I decide not to question whether the missing arm and her job are related, so I just sit down at the bar next to Ichigo.

"You're quite the humble one," Ichigo mutters in a tone I can't place. Kuukaku just lightly smacks his head before turning back to the food.

"Hope you like breakfast burritos," she says, setting the food in front of us. I've never had real food aside from the cheap things I can get at the convenience stores and such, but the burrito smells really good.

"I'll eat pretty much anything," I say. I see how Ichigo's handling the thing and I follow suit.

"So will Carrot-top here," she says with a laugh.

"Beggars can't be choosers," Ichigo replies.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, brat," she snaps.

Ichigo swallows and sticks his tongue out at her.

I just eat my burrito quietly, silently amused.

After their bickering dies down, Ichigo asks Kuukaku about trains and she goes over to the computer. Ichigo just turns around in the chair. They talk back and forth for a few minutes about fares and routes and cities and all sorts of other things I'm not paying attention to. She tells him to look at the computer so he gets up and goes over to her. They talk for another minute or so until they come back.

By this time, I've cleaned off my plate. Kuukaku notices and asks, "You want anything else? I may as well send you boys off on a full stomach, since it looks like we won't be meeting again for a while."

"I'll make it up to you, I promise," Ichigo says.

"Shut up about it, Ichigo. If Kaien thinks it's worth his badge to help you, I don't need anything else to convince me to help you." She looks at me for a moment before her hand goes to my wrist. She taps the metal bracelet. "ID?"

I nod and take it off and hand it to her. "Mayuri made me wear it after I got out the first time."

She reads it. "Alright. Ichigo, you still have your ID card?"

"Yep," Ichigo says, digging the card from his pocket. She takes that as well.

"Great – this shouldn't take long at all," she says happily. "Don't even need to take a photo – you two look almost exactly alike. A little PhotoShopping and Amtrak won't know the difference."

Ichigo smirks. "Forgot about that. He's a lot paler, though…"

"If they ask, you can just say he's sick."

"His eyes?"

"He'll keep the sunglasses on, right?"

"Yeah."

"He's overly-sensitive to light. Gives him migraines or something."

"His hair?"

"Dye it. The train doesn't leave 'til four – you'll have plenty of time to think of something."

He sighs. "Alright. If this screws up, I'm blaming you."

"It won't screw up, brat," she says. Then she looks back at me. "So're you still hungry?"

"I'm good," I say. "Thanks."

"Alright – you boys go wash up and I'll get everything ready for you."

Ichigo nods and gets off his seat and I follow him.

"Uh," I start, not sure how I should explain to him. "I don't…think I know how to do this right," I manage to mutter.

"Huh?" Ichigo looks back at me, confused. "How'd you get clean at the lab?"

"I stood in a small room with cold water spraying on me for a minute and then I'd be dried off."

"Alright," he says, looking away. I see his ears are red and I wonder why. "I guess it doesn't matter – we won't waste the hot water this way," he adds, leading me into the bathroom. It's separated into two parts – the first part has a counter and a sink and a mirror all across the wall above it. As soon as I see my reflection I look away. The second part has a toilet and a bathtub. Ichigo goes into the second part and I follow him. Then he shuts the second door behind us and locks it. "Take off your clothes," he says. I'm almost confused for a second – he words it like a command but his tone is nothing like what I usually hear.

I understand that he's still telling me to do it, so I do as he's turning the water on. It comes out of the bottom faucet first like a waterfall until he pulls up the button-thing. Then the water comes out of the spray thing on top. It looks a lot more welcoming than the cold showers.

Ichigo tests the water before he takes his pants off. "Come on – it's warm," he says, stepping over the edge. I follow him, still a little wary of the thing. Once the water hits my skin, though, it's not so bad. It's warm and doesn't hurt. "You okay with this?" he asks as he shuts the shower door.

"Yeah," I say with a nod. He pulls me under the water and runs his hands through my hair. It feels good, so I don't ask.

"You just got hosed down and that was it, right?" he asks as he looks at the bottles on the ledge.

"Uh, I guess," I say, not exactly sure what "hosed down" really means.

"Okay," he says as he picks up a blue bottle. "Step back and close your eyes."

I follow his orders and I feel something cold on my head, followed by Ichigo's hands. "What's this?" I ask.

"Shampoo," he says as he's rubbing this stuff in my hair. I guess he thinks I don't know what that is because he adds, "It cleans your hair." I know what shampoo is, I've just never used it. I'm used to being talked to like I don't know anything, but he's not being condescending.

I grin – he's massaging my head and it feels good enough to fall asleep all over again. Until he pulls me back under the water, which isn't a bad thing, really, but he stops rubbing the shampoo in my hair.

"Tilt your head back and run your hands back through your hair so its not in your face," he instructs.

I do just that, rinsing the soapy stuff away from my eyes. When I think all the shampoo is out of my hair I move my head out of the water and open my eyes to find Ichigo scrubbing at his own head. I laugh. "Your hair's all white now, too," I say.

He smiles. "Your hair is like pure white – the soap looked gray against it," he says.

"Eh? I thought it was silver…" I say, trying to tug a piece of the short stands into my vision.

"It is when it's dry – but it's like clear white when it's wet and clean. Move," he adds.

I get out of the way of the shower and he grabs the other blue bottle from the ledge and hands it to me before he gets under the water. "It's conditioner. Just push the top open and squeeze out a little bit – size of a dime or something. You don't need a lot. Then get it on both hands and run it through your hair just straight – no scrubbing, okay?"

I do what he says and I guess I manage to get it right. He takes the bottle from me and does the same thing with his hair. Then he takes a bottle with clear-green stuff in it and pours some on this purple poof thing. Then he gets it a little wet and hands it to me. "Just scrub it all over your body – clean your skin off. Don't get it in your face, though."

I start doing that when he grabs the bottle and a pink poof and does the same thing for himself. "This is probably the best shower we're gonna get for a while."

"Where're we headed, anyway?"

"California," he says. "Here—turn around," he says, gently pushing me at the shoulder.

I turn and he starts soaping up my back. "What're you doing?"

"Helping." After he says this, he pulls me under the water again and helps me get all the soap and conditioner off.

We're almost done when Kuukaku yells at us from outside the door. "You two better not be doing anything naughty in there!"

Ichigo's face goes red and he yells back, "Get your mind out of the gutter!!"

I hear her laugh and she says, "There are some towels and bathrobes on the counter here when you guys are done."

"Thank you," he answers and I hear the first door close.

"What did she mean by 'naughty'?" I ask before thinking about how naïve I sound. I really am confused – usually Mayuri said I was being naughty when I wasn't cooperating. But the way Kuukaku said it made it sound like being naughty was something good.

"Don't worry about it," Ichigo says.

"How is her mind in a gutter?" This one really lost me – there are no gutters in the cranium, and you can't remove your brain, not to mention that it's entirely unsanitary to put a brain in a gutter…

Ichigo laughs as he shuts off the water. "It's a figure of speech – it just means that she's thinking of perverted things."

I try to process this all together. I understand the words, but not the tones. "I don't get it…"

Ichigo chuckles and messes up my hair. "I'll explain it to you some other time," he says as he shuts off the shower. "Come on." He opens the shower door and steps out. I follow him and he unlocks and opens the second bathroom door, grabs the towels and things off the counter, and comes back in the second half of the bathroom, closing the door again. "Cold out there," he says with a laugh, handing me a towel.

The towel's soft and warm and I bury my face in it. I hear Ichigo laugh and look up. "What's so funny?"

"Dryer-fresh towels," he says. "You like 'em, too, huh?"

I just stick my tongue out at him and start drying off my hair and body.

"So Mayuri's the creep-face jackass running tests on you?" Ichigo asks after a few minutes.

"Uhuh," I say, fumbling with the belt on the bathrobe.

Ichigo takes it from my hands and ties it for me, having already tied his own. "Sounds like a real bastard," he says. "Was it like some real professional lab? Like for a hospital or a big company or something?"

I nod. "The place I was kept was three stories underground, but I'd be brought up to some of the above-ground stories sometimes."

"You remember which building it was? Or where it was?"

I shake my head. I never paid attention to where I was.

"Do you remember anything about what it might be for?"

"Mayuri is the head of the Scientific Research and Development department. They've mentioned Gotei a few times – I think that's the real boss of everything. And I remember them saying I was a result of the Shattered Shaft Experiment. But that's it."

"Gotei sounds familiar," he says as we walk out of the bathroom. "Hey, Kuukaku?" he calls.

"Ganju's room," she answers. I follow him to her.

"Does the name 'Gotei' ring any bells?"

"Yeah," she says before she goes over to the closet and pulls out some toy thing. She comes back and shows the tag to Ichigo, which says "a Gotei product" on it. "It's a huge corporation. They deal with stuffed animals, robotics, medicine, weapons—all sorts a'shit. They also own a lot of private colleges that specialize in public affairs and law enforcement and things like that. You'll find their name on a lot of things. Them, or Rukongai – they're big competitors. Why?"

Ichigo looks at me and I shrug. "I don't know anything about this," I say.

"No, it's not that. If they're a big company, why are they experimenting on humans?" As he says this, he looks back at Kuukaku.

She frowns and looks at me, so I say, "I was in a lab and the guy running tests on me works for Gotei."

"He's part of something called the Shattered Shaft Experiment," Ichigo adds.

"Look, I don't know anything about big companies and crazy underground experiments, but stay out of it as much as you can."

"How can we do that?" Ichigo snaps. "Shiro's right in the middle of it!"

"You wanna be in the middle of it, too?" she retorts. "You're just _asking_ to be killed!"

I'm not sure what's going on, but their yelling is affecting me – I'm starting to get angry again. I can feel it. I shut my eyes tight.

"Hey – you okay, Whitey?" I hear Kuukaku ask.

"Shiro?" Ichigo asks. I feel his hand against mine and the anger starts to subside.

I move my hand and hold his before I open my eyes and look at him. "I'm okay," I say, hoping that the expression on his face goes back to normal.

It does and he smiles at me. "Alright."

"What's with the fuss, sis?" somebody grumbles from the door. Ichigo and I turn to look. This guy's got spiky hair like Ichigo and me, but it's black and a little longer, plus he's a good three inches taller. His eyes land on me and he smiles. "Hey, glad you're awake!" he says. "Shiro, right?"

I look at Ichigo, who just says, "Shiro, Kaien. He's the guy who fired the gun last night and then carried you here."

"You were right – he does look like you," Kaien says to Ichigo. He turns back to me. "How old are you?"

"Same as Ichigo," Kuukaku answers. "July fifteenth, nineteen-ninety-two."

"Creepy," Kaien says. "It's like you two are long-lost twins separated at birth or something."

Ichigo and I look at each other and Ichigo lets go of my hand. I can tell he's a little creeped out by they suggestion. I'm just confused. I had realized before that Ichigo and I look the same, but we don't share enough to be called identical twins, and we shared too much to be called fraternal twins.

"Okay, okay, forget I said anything – geeze, Ichigo…"

Kuukaku laughs. "Poor boy – all those raging teenage hormones – of course the suggestion that they might be related is gonna freak him a bit." As she speaks, Ichigo's face goes from pink to red.

"I said get your mind out of the gutter!" he snaps.

She grins. "You are so transparent," she says.

He just glares at her.

"Uh…" I say, trying to get them away from the yelling. "Clothes?" is the first thing I come up with.

Kaien laughs. "You should be able to fit into some of my things – come on."

* * *

**· - · - · - · - · - · - · - · - · - · - · - · - ·**

* * *

Long lost twinzz!! ›o› They aren't. I'm saying that right now - they aren't related! Because I can't write incest ›.‹

* * *

(3586) (8101) 


	5. Comparing Apples and Strawberries

**Disclaimer**: No ownage except of the things not already owned.  
**Warning**: Plot developement!  
**Note**: As this chapter will probably show, there is going to be some focus on the social aspect of the boys' relationship. Why? You'll just have to wait and see XP BTW - "Ringo" is apple in Japanese :3

* * *

Snow Berry  
–5–  
Comparing Apples and Strawberries

* * *

We're lucky Kaien's a bit of a packrat when it comes to clothes – he keeps things he's grown out of. I think he does it specifically for me, but I'll never call him on it. Anyway, we end up with a total of two t-shirts, two long-sleeved shirts, two windbreakers, two pairs of jeans, a pair of cargo pants, a pair of warm-up pants, two beanies, two pairs of gloves, three scarves, and several pairs of socks and underwear. 

Ganju comes back with two backpacks from the Salvation Army and some travel food. I have to admit that this entire adventure is getting kind of fun. Shiro seems a bit uneasy, though, so when I can, I pull him away from the Shiba siblings.

"Hey, you alright?" I ask.

"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?"

"You just seem antsy or something. You're okay with this, right?"

He sighs and shifts his weight a bit on his feet. "It's just… You could be killed."

I snort. "Are you just repeating what Kuukaku said?"

"It's true, isn't it?"

I roll my eyes. "It might me, it might not be. Yeah, Gotei's a huge corporation and I really shouldn't be trying to help you out because you're an illegal experiment, but you're my friend, just like these guys are my friends. I don't want to see you get hurt when I can do something to stop it. Kuukaku doesn't want me getting hurt, either, that's why she said that. But she's still gonna help us out because she knows I'm stubborn and I'm not gonna listen to her anyway. That's what friends do – they look out for each other and support each other."

"Why?"

I laugh and mess up his hair, though I'm gentle since I don't want him to flip again. "Because somebody has to. Just accept it, okay?"

He smiles a bit but he still looks uneasy.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

He has this face like he should be blushing, but I wonder if he even knows what being embarrassed is. He didn't have any problem with the whole shower thing and honestly, if he's not embarrassed about that, then I doubt he can get embarrassed about anything. Anyway, he says, "Is it…okay to hug you?"

I almost want to laugh – he just looks so cute asking that. I realize that the only thing he probably knows about normal social interactions is from what he sees on the streets when he gets his short bursts of freedom. He must've seen girls hugging and guys just hitting each other. He probably doesn't know why there's a difference, and from his reaction to my shoving last night, I can guess that he doesn't want to get rough like guys normally do. "Yeah, it's okay," I say with a smile.

He smiles and throws his arms around me, practically tackling me to the ground. He seems really happy about it, though, so I hug him back.

"Oi!" Kaien calls. "Ichigo!"

Shiro and I separate and I call, "In here," as I walk into the hallway towards his voice.

"You gotta scram – and quick," Kaien says quickly.

"Is the report out?"

"There's more than the report – there's an APB out."

"What?! Why?!"

"Two men were found murdered in an alley. A witness reported seeing two boys fleeing from the scene – a pale, white-haired boy and an orange-haired boy of about the same height and build," he explains as he leads us to the fire escape window.

I freeze. Both of us? And how the hell did I kill them?! "That was last night! Why're they just reporting it now?!"

"The witness said he didn't think anything of it when he saw it last night, but when he went by there again today, the men were dead, so he called it in."

"It could've been anyone, then!" I don't remember that Shiro doesn't do well with yelling until he grabs my hand again. I look at him, calming down. "Sorry," I say, messing with his hair with my free hand. I turn back to Kaien. "Seriously – that's a big gap of time. Why're _we_ the suspects?"

"A security camera nearby doesn't show anybody going in or out of that alley after you two. Also, the guy who reported Shiro missing said that he's prone to unprovoked violent outbursts and he's a lot stronger than he looks."

Shiro's grip tightens and I glance back at him. He looks a little pissed and a little scared. I don't think he agrees with that. Neither do I. I look back at Kaien. "It's not true," I say firmly. "They were about to beat Shiro up – maybe worse. I was the one that kicked their asses, but they were still alive when we high-tailed it outta there."

"I believe you, Ichigo, but reports are reports. Shiro's now missing _and_ wanted – and he's not hard to spot."

"Lucky I changed his name, then," Kuukaku says. She shows the fake ID to us. "Whitey is now Ringo Kurosaki," she says with a grin. I take it from her – she did a good job with the picture. "So you guys are twin brothers now," she adds as she hands us our backpacks.

"Whatever – it works," I say, zipping up both of our fake student IDs in the pocket. I grab the gold-and-black striped beanie and put it on Shiro's head to cover his hair and give him his sunglasses to put on. "Okay – you'll probably be a little warm, but until we can do something about your hair, just keep that on, okay?" I say before shoving the black-and-red checkered beanie over my hair.

Shiro nods. It's pretty obvious he's scared.

"Hold on a sec," Kuukaku says. She takes a fat wad of bills from her pocket. "It's all ones and fives and a few tens and twenties, so people shouldn't get too suspicious as long as you keep it out of sight, okay?" she says as she hands it to me. "There's about two-hundred dollars there, so that should last you for a while," she adds. "Take care, brat," she says affectionately before she kisses my forehead. "You, too, Whitey," she says to Shiro before doing the same thing. "Alright, now scram!"

Kaien opens the fire escape window for us.

"I promise I'll repay you!" I call as I scramble outside onto the metal platform. Shiro isn't long in following. As soon as he's out, Kaien shuts the window.

"Is this safe?" Shiro asks.

I understand his skepticism – the fire escape is rickety at best, but it's held me before. "Just follow me and don't think about it," I say, starting down the ladder. I can hear and feel Shiro following me, but I look back anyway to make sure. He's still scared, but he's tough.

* * *

It's about five blocks to the station on Kingsbridge and the sidewalks are crowded. Shiro's holding my hand and staying close to my side, a little behind me. He's trying to avoid getting bumped and jostled as much as possible and his tight grip on my hand is more than just from not wanting to get lost – he's scared. I can practically feel it radiating through his hand into mine. I'm not a big believer in auras and that shit, but I still try to counter his fear and calm him down. I'm not sure if it works, but it feels like Shiro's fear gets a little less as we go on. 

It takes a while and we don't speak the entire time. When we finally get out of the bigger crowd and down into the subway, I notice people giving us weird looks. At first, I think it's because of Shiro, but when I see this crabby-looking man give us this disgusted look, I realize it's because we're holding hands. Still. I roll my eyes – for God's sake, it's not like New York is the most hetero place on earth! I'm pretty annoyed and decide to spite the old bastard by not letting go of Shiro's hand as I lead him over to the MetroCard machine.

"Here – let go for a sec," I say, only because I need to get money from my backpack. I get enough out for the both of us, plus a little more so I won't have to dig into the backpack again. After I get both cards, I hand one to him. "Don't lose it. I'll show you how to use it," I say.

He just nods and takes it. He seems preoccupied with the front of the card so I grab his hand again and lead him to the turnstiles. I guess he figured out the directions because he slides the card through. But when the display flashes "GO," he doesn't move. I push him forward through the turnstile before it locks again, then I go through right after him and take his hand again, hoping I didn't set him off again. He seems okay, though, so I lead him in the direction of the far end of the platform.

When we're away from most of the people, I say, "Sorry for pushing you – the thing would've locked up again and we would've been screwed."

"It's okay," he says softly. "Why were they looking at us funny?"

I chuckle – so he noticed. "Because we're holding hands," I say.

"But people hold hands all the time, don't they?"

"Usually it's two girls trying to stay together, or a girl and a guy who're together."

"So? What's wrong about a guy not wanting to get lost?"

I recall something Kaien had told me before. "It's an aversion to cultural differences. You don't get it because you weren't raised out here like all the other guys were, so you don't understand that guys have this thing against touching other guys – they think it makes them look gay," I add with a chuckle.

"Do you think that?" he asks. I feel his grip loosen a bit and I tighten mine.

I smile. "Nah – I don't really care. It's better if you keep a hold of me, anyway. I don't want you getting lost or anything."

He tightens his grip again and smiles. "I don't wanna get lost, either."

I understand what else he's trying to say – he doesn't want to be grabbed and taken away. I chuckle in my head when it strikes me how different he is from when I rescued him. I remember how he acted when I shoved him, though, plus the mention of violent outbursts – I don't think he's really all that stable, but only when he's provoked. The thugs must've just been able to overpower him when he tried to fight. He'd also been a little aggressive to me before he fainted. After that, he turned into this – just a scared kid.

We wait in silence for a few minutes before the muggy air starts making me uncomfortable. I slip my hand from Shiro's and tug off the backpack at the jacket. "Sorry – I'd keep my jacket on just to be fair, but it really is too hot down here."

Shiro gives me this sort of confused look. "I'm fine…" he says. "I'm usually always a little cold. It's a bit stuffy down here, but I'm okay."

I smirk as I tie the jacket around my waist. "Well, that's good, then."

Shiro smiles at me before he suddenly looks to the end of the tunnel. The train's coming and we can feel the ground rumbling. "What's…" he starts.

"Just the train," I say, shouldering the backpack again before I slip my hand back in his and squeeze it gently, showing him it's okay. He seems to understand but he still jumps a bit when the train barrels through. He winces and buries his head against my shoulder when the brakes squeal and I cover his exposed ear with my free hand. I'd forgotten that he wouldn't expect the noise. During the winter, I usually stay down in the subways to stay warm, so I've gotten used to the noise.

The train slows to a stop and the doors open. Luckily, the car we get into is empty. We go to the very back seats and Shiro sits down against the wall. I stay standing, lazily holding onto the overhead bar with both hands so I can cool off (the train's air conditioned). The doors close and the train starts moving again.

"So where are we headed?" Shiro asks as I drop my backpack on the ground and kick it under the seat.

"I told you – to California."

"But right now…"

"Oh – we're going to Penn Station," I say. I'm finally cold again so I let go of the bar and untie my jacket. The train lurches to a stop as I'm tugging the jacket on and I fall fairly ungracefully into the hard plastic. At least I fall on my side and not on my face.

"You okay?" Shiro asks. He's actually concerned, where any other New Yorker would just be laughing, so I'm the one amused.

"Yeah – I just wasn't paying attention," I say, sitting properly and resting my elbows on top of the seat.

After a pause, Shiro speaks again. "Do you know what it's like?"

"What what's like?"

"California. I've read about it, but…"

I shrug. "I dunno. I've never been there." I hesitate before I ask him, "Is that where you get all your information? Just books?"

Shiro nods. "Nemu – Mayuri's daughter – taught me how to read out of Mayuri's textbooks. Some of them were scientific journals, too, but mostly just textbooks. When I wasn't running through tests or sleeping, I'd read," he says as the train starts moving again.

"You're probably pretty smart, then," I say. Though if all he read was official science stuff, he would only be brilliant as a scientist.

He shrugs. "Mayuri says I'm an idiot."

"Said," I say. "He's not saying it anymore, as far as you know." I don't know why it matters, but I just want Shiro to put that lab and that bastard behind him. I know I can't give him much more than a friend, but I can't help but think that even being poor and homeless is better than being locked up away from the world and treated like some animal. But I don't know if Shiro thinks that. He's been trying to get away for a while, yeah, but he doesn't really know what's on the other side… I sigh. "Sorry…"

"Why?"

"You don't… I mean, you've been in that place your whole life. You don't really know what it's like to live like I do. If you want to go back…"

"If I go back now, it'll waste what Kuukaku and Kaien and Ganju did for us."

"That doesn't matter."

He smiles. "I don't care. You're right – I don't know. But I'm tired of Mayuri. I know everything in there, but I don't know anything out here. I want to know, so I have to be out here to know, right?"

I get it and smile – he likes learning. Whatever shit he gets dragged through with me, he doesn't care because he's learning. "You're a weird kid."

"You're weirder," he retorts, sticking his tongue out at me.

"_You_'re the one with the blue tongue. You're like a lizard or something."

He laughs. "Mayuri calls—_called_ it a defect."

"Honestly, with how the rest of you looks, a blue tongue doesn't strike me as a defect, really."

"I was supposed to look normal," he says. "The only thing I think they said they got right on my appearance were the gold eyes."

I shrug. "That doesn't mean anything."

He looks at me like I'm crazy. "Yes it—"

"Not now. It might've meant something when you were just an experiment, but you're a human being and it doesn't matter if you don't look or act like how they wanted you to because you're you and you're perfect just the way you are, okay?" I don't look at him because I'm afraid I'll blush if I do.

After a moment, Shiro says, "Ichigo…?"

I finally look at him and I see that he's smiling a bit but his eyes are watery. "Huh?"

"Do you…really think I'm perfect?" he asks. He's looking at the ground.

"Yeah, I do."

He looks up at me. "Even though I tried to kill you?"

I smirk. "I lived, didn't I? It's no big deal."

His smile gets a little bigger and he slips under to the other side of my hand and leans against me. "Thank you."

I smile and wrap my arm around his shoulders. "You don't need to thank me," I say.

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	6. Change Your Mind

**Disclaimer**: No ownage except of the things not already owned.  
**Warning**: Idiocy, the author's cynicism involving the American mindset  
**Note**: -cough- I haven't died.

* * *

Snow Berry  
–6–  
Change Your Mind

* * *

It's another seven stops before we get to the Yankee Stadium station. During that time, I'm teaching Shiro about the real world and he's asking questions.

When we get off, the station is crowded and Shiro's holding my hand again.

"Is this Penn Station?" Shiro asks right in my ear.

"No – we gotta transfer to another train," I tell him.

As we walk, I notice people giving us odd glances. Or maybe it's just my imagination. Either way, I ignore it. I don't think it matters if I pretend he's my brother or my boyfriend – people will always think what they want. We near a convenience stand with a TV turned to the news. Out of curiosity, I lead Shiro over to it.

"You want anything?" I ask him. The food we have in our backpacks is granola bars, fruit snacks, and trail mix – great for travel, useless for a sugar-high.

"Uhh…" he says. I see his eyes shift behind the sunglasses and I realize he probably can't see too well if they're dark.

"I'll pick something, okay? You like chocolate, right?"

He nods and smiles.

Without letting go of his hand, I grab a Hershey's bar, a KitKat, Rolos, and a pack of Reese's. I set those down on the counter and grab two different tabloids from the rack and add them to the pile. I take my time as I'm trying to hear the newscaster. I'm a little disappointed that they don't say anything about the apparent murder that we're wanted in by the time I can't really dawdle anymore without drawing suspicion.

A few minutes later, I'm carrying the bag of goodies and we're waiting for the B train.

"What were the papers you got?" Shiro asks.

I smile but don't open the bag. "Tabloids. They're magazines made to look like real news, but everything falls under the same credibility as the black-eyed kids thing. They're good for a laugh, though. I figure it won't hurt to show you a bit more with things like this since the real news is all crap anyway."

"What kind of—" He's cut off as a gust of air passes through, signaling the oncoming train. He's learned from last time so he immediately ducks his head and covers his ears using my shoulder and his hand. The train rushes in but he still cringes when the brakes squeal. He doesn't lift his head until the doors open and we have to get inside along with everybody else.

The car's not really crowded, but there are only a few open seats here and there so we cross the middle aisle to the closed door and I grab the top bar. "Hold on to the pole," I say in Shiro's ear. He nods and grips the pole with his free hand. When the train lurches forward, he loses his balance anyway and I have to pull him up to keep him from falling. He kind of chuckles and I smirk and rest my forehead against the side of his head and say, "You're an idiot," real soft in his ear.

He just grins. "How long are we on this one?" he asks.

"Four stops, then we transfer to another train."

"When can I look at what you got?"

"When you aren't in danger of getting intimate with the floor without holding onto me."

He looks a little grossed out. "There's gotta be millions of bacteria—"

"Hush," I say, nudging him with my head. "No talking about germs – nobody wants to think about it," I add quietly.

"Understandable…" he says.

Without really meaning to, my eyes shift around to the people around us. I notice a few blatantly averting their eyes (though it's possible that they really just haven't seen us). There's one prissy lady who keeps glancing at us. When she notices that I can see her, she starts fussing with her purse and she gets out a disc-thing to touch up her makeup. I can still see her glance at us, though. I close my eyes and smirk. If this lady really wants to keep looking at us…

The train lurches to a stop and Shiro stumbles again. The doors open – luckily, the same doors as last time, so we don't have to move.

"Would you rather I just hold onto you?"

"Aren't you already?"

I smirk. "Let go, and take the backpack off," I say, slipping my hand from his. He lets go of the pole and unshoulders the backpack, and I slip my arm around his middle, pulling him against me as I lean against the space of wall between the back pole and the door. I rest my chin on Shiro's shoulder and ask, "Is this better?"

He chuckles a bit as he drops the backpack between our feet and the end of the bench. "I think so," he says.

The doors close and the train lurches forward again. Shiro's foot moves to catch his balance, but that's it. I look back over to the prissy lady and our eyes meet. She seems to get real indignant about it so I just smirk real smug-like. Like I'm saying _Lookie what I got and I ain't afraid to flaunt it!_ She gets all in a huff and gets up to stand at one of the far doors. I just chuckle.

"Why do they do that?" Shiro asks quietly.

"Do what?"

"Act like we're doing something bad?"

"Remember when you asked what Kuukaku meant by 'naughty'?"

"Uhuh."

"This is kinda what she meant, only it's not what I meant when I said her mind was in the gutter."

"So…is this bad?"

"It's falls under the category of 'socially unacceptable,' but really only because we're both guys," I say. I'd tried to explain the whole socially acceptable/unacceptable thing before, without much luck.

"Why?" he asks. It's like his favorite question.

"Ask me again later when there aren't so many people around."

He nods.

* * *

Three stops and another transfer later, we find ourselves in a relatively empty train car (there's a small group of girls at one end). Shiro bugs me again about what I got when we sit down, so I open up the bag.

"Pick a letter: L, K, H, R, E, or N."

"R."

I grab the Reese's and show him. "Ever had these?"

He shakes his head. "Nope. What's in it?"

"They're chocolate peanut-butter cups. You're not allergic to peanuts, are you?" I ask as I open the pack up.

Shiro chuckles. "Nope. No allergies."

"Good – here." I hand him an unwrapped Reese's.

He takes it and takes a bite and smiles. He likes it. "Can you tell me why it's only 'cause we're guys that it's unacceptable?"

I nod. "What all do you know about homosexuality?" For once, I thank Kaien for teaching me big words.

"It's an attraction to the same sex."

"So you've got no idea what the social aspect of it is, right?"

He tilts his head, confused. "Social aspect?"

I take that as a no. "A lotta people think homosexuality is wrong and unnatural and all sorts a'sinful."

"But…there are hundreds of documented cases in nature…"

"That's why I'm talkin' about the social aspect – doesn't matter if it's natural or not to them. If they don't think it's right, it's not right. So when two guys are holdin' hands or hugging or…or gettin' cuddly in public – stupid little things that girls an' guys would do – people just assume the guys are gay and they'll disapprove."

"Why?"

"Because bein' in love and gettin' intimate like that is supposed to be reserved for the couples that can make babies," I say bluntly.

Shiro thinks this over for a moment. "What about sterile couples?"

I smirk. "One of the many paradoxes and oxymorons of society," I say. "There is no logical or rational reason why people are against it, so they come up with things like that and expect us to believe them."

"That's sad…"

I nod. "Yeah, it is. Pick another letter."

"H."

I dig out the Hershey's bar.

"So what _can_ guys do?" Shiro asks as I unwrap the chocolate.

"Beat each other up," I say, handing him half of the bar.

He takes it and starts snapping the little rectangles apart. "That doesn't sound very fun."

I laugh. "It's a testosterone thing."

"But why would you beat up a friend?"

I shrug. "It's just a guy thing."

"You aren't very good at explaining this."

"What's there to explain? There's no _reason_ behind it – it just _is_."

"That's dumb…"

"I know, I know. But there's not much we can do about it."

Shiro nibbles on the chocolate for a moment. "What if we could?"

"Huh?"

"The ripple affect – what if we could change it?"

I laugh. "You're crazy. Two kids aren't going to change the American mindset."

"Not just us – I mean, we could start it, yeah, but then other people would be influenced and they'd do it, too, and the whole mindset would have to change, wouldn't it?"

I look at him out of the corner of my eye. "Maybe in a perfect world, Shiro. But people here are stubborn – it's not gonna work."

"Couldn't we just _try_, though?" he pleads.

"Why're you so bent on this?"

Shiro clams up and I sigh.

"How do you propose we go about this little 'change the world' project of yours, then?"

He looks at me for a moment before smiling and sitting up a bit. "Like this," he says.

Right before he kisses me.

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